How are your refunds going?

Jeff:

I am so sorry you have to cancel.
I can feel your pain in your post.

You seem to be doing ok by way of cancellations and refunds.

Ii think if theromanguy keeps being a pain, he may find himself not booked when things get better for travel. It did not take you 90 days to pay him and it should not take him 90 days to refund you. Disgusting.

The last two tours and walk need to do the right thing right away. If they do not then they should know people are watching and reading and we will vote with our feet and use our platforms. They are being shortsighted as business people unless this is it for them. Who knows?

I hope you are at peace and find solace in your decision.

Thank you for sharing.

It is called cash flow—small companies are being hard hit. They may need income from other tours (once they resume) before they have the cash to refund. What is their stated refund policy for your tour purchase?

The Romeguy website says they are processing cancellations as quick as they can and it can take 30-90 days. You will live. These companies have had a total cessation of business with instant cash flow stoppage. Instant. Every business expects a certain level of cancellations. What we are seeing is unprecedented.

Trenitalia is not offering refunds (or vouchers) on May trips yet. The conditions on the refund offer do not yet apply, as Italy has not issued prohibitions for May yet.

https://www.trenitalia.com/en/info_contacts/refund-for-journey-cancellation.html

Note that depending on the type of tickets you have, the “refund” may be a voucher for future travel, not a cash refund. This applies to the Frecce and InterCity trains. Regionale trains have a different refund procedure; you cannot use the web form.

Ironically, I had so much trouble with the Trenitalia website (although I have used it before and was registered) that I bought our Trenitalia tix from Trainline. These were promptly refunded with the push of a button, and the money appeared as a credit on my credit card statement within 2 days.

I think it is very reasonable of walksofitaly to ask you to wait until it is closer to the date. They and other tour operators are being drained of money right now, and attending to more immediate reservations.

Jeff, just curious, did you make your reservations directly with American Airlines? We have reservations for France on April 10. I made our reservations with Expedia. I haven’t cancelled yet. I think we have to cancel with Expedia but they tell us not to contact them until 7 days before departure. I could also submit a form but I’m concerned that doesn’t guarantee me a refund. Someone told me we should wait until the airline actually cancels to be guaranteed a refund.

Did you actually talk to someone at American?

Thanks for any help you can give. We also don’t want to reschedule right now. We prefer to cancel and schedule when we feel more confident about choosing a new date.

We booked flights with an outside travel agency--who's seldom answering the phone or answering emails. They called today when I was out of the house. I got them the other morning (4:00 am), and the gentleman (across the world) said my tickets were non-refundable and that changing the dates would be cost prohibitive. I later got an email from British Airways saying they were fully refundable and could be rescheduled for free. But I had to go through the travel agency for changes (who were of zero help.)
CATCH 22 ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Just rolling with the flow presently.
We're originally scheduled to fly out this Saturday. It's already cost me a bunch of $ to cancel a couple of hotel reservations.
TO BE CONTINUED . . . . . . . . . . . .

Kmkwoo, wait until closer so airline cancels flight and you get refund.

Was suppose to leave April 2 for India, had to cancel our trip, they wont let us in ;)

Waiting for British airways to cancel our flight to get a full refund, right now we could get a voucher for the full amount. I had scored a great price on premium economy too.
Airbnb-got the refund within 2 days
Tour company for New Delhi- got the refund within a week, minus 150$ fee
Tour company for golden triangle- supposed to get an 90% refund, still waiting
Tour company for Kerala- supposed to get an 80% refund, still waiting
Spent 3 hours reaching and talking with Air India- supposed to get a full refund since they cancelled a leg of my flight, still waiting and I think that money is lost, I received no email after the cancellation and my booking does not exist anymore.
One private tour offers no refund, but it is an NGO, I am ok with donate it.

My husband is confident we will get all our money back, will see! There are worst things in the world, as we know it...

Carol,
Thank you! Good advice. Just getting a little antsy.

kmkwoo - I booked directly with aa.com. I kept watching their travel advisory page and last week they extended the period for reschedule/cancellations through May 31. I was able to pull up my reservation and cancel it directly through their website, without having to speak with anyone.

I'm sure I won't see anything of my trip insurance premium I bought with the tickets - hopefully I can use it to recoup other costs that I don't get reimbursed.

QUOTE: I think it is very reasonable of walksofitaly to ask you to wait until it is closer to the date. They and other tour operators are being drained of money right now, and attending to more immediate reservations.

I don't. They shouldn't be spending money they haven't earned yet. I feel the same way about having to wait 30-90 days for a refund. It's almost like a Ponzi scheme. They need to get money from someone else to pay me back for the money they got from me and spent it before they earned it. That's a great scheme until something happens.

I think that ultimately, if enough people complain about this type of thing, Italy may be inclined to pass a law where tour companies are required to hold deposits and pre-payments until services are rendered.

AirBNB handled it right - they had the money on hold and were able to refund it immediately.

QUOTE: You will live. These companies have had a total cessation of business with instant cash flow stoppage. Instant. Every business expects a certain level of cancellations. What we are seeing is unprecedented.

I certainly hope we do - members of our family fall into as many as three at-risk categories, so your concern is heartwarming.

But our survival really wasn't the point, was it? I simply stated where things stood with my refunds and asked others to share their thoughts.

I am so sorry you have to cancel.
I can feel your pain in your post.
You seem to be doing ok by way of cancellations and refunds.
Ii think if theromanguy keeps being a pain, he may find himself not booked when things get better for travel. It did not take you 90 days to pay him and it should not take him 90 days to refund you. Disgusting.
The last two tours and walk need to do the right thing right away. If they do not then they should know people are watching and reading and we will vote with our feet and use our platforms. They are being shortsighted as business people unless this is it for them. Who knows?
I hope you are at peace and find solace in your decision.
Thank you for sharing.

Thank you, Traveler. I'm hopeful that these companies follow through with the refunds. I'll share my experiences, positive and negative, so others can judge for themselves whether they want to trust the companies with their money - and I hope others do as well. So far, my experiences have been largely positive. They almost all responded quickly, even though they're dealing with terrible circumstances. I don't think they should be spending money they take in until the tours have been completed, but we will see if they ultimately follow through. I picked highly recommended tour providers, so I'm optimistic that I'll get my money back; assuming things get turned around and I can reschedule the trip, I'll be happy to book again with them.

I'm at peace with our decision - in large part I don't think I had much of a decision because of the travel bans LOL. I just hope I can recoup enough of what I've spent and I don't lose my job because of all this, so we can rebook our trip later this year or in 2020.

Still waiting for a refund from SNCF for a train trip they cancelled in December due to strikes. But they DO keep sending me emails about it. (I think -- my French is a little rusty.)

Trip scheduled May 22-June 17
Lufthansa- only offering refunds and rebooking through April 30
Rick Steves My Way Alpine- we can cancel and rebook any time.
Alitalia- same as Lufthansa
School tour (Italy) through private tour company. This tour is now cancelled and not sure how much of a refund we will get.
I haven’t looked into cancelling anything else- waiting to hear from Lufthansa. I’m sure we aren’t going but I just need more information.

Be patient with Walks of Italy! We were scheduled for two tours with them during the first week of April. They replied to me within a day of contacting them and explained my options. It took another day for the next response, and now all is settled. I'm sure they are swamped and need time to catch up with March and April cancellations.
.

Jeff, I waited for United to cancel my flights, end of April / mid May. They didn't notify me regarding the cancelation, I found out during my obsessive search for updates. My reservation page said that there was a flight change but didn't say what the change was. When I called, I was told about the cancellation and offered a refund even though their site was only advertising fee free flight changes (this was Saturday, not sure if they changed the advertised guidelines since).

As far as train and museum reservations, I'm patiently waiting for the Italian government to change their April 3 restriction date as this doesn't affect me yet.

However, I did file a dispute with Amex for my Colosseum reservation as this is on this months statement, and Coopculture is still "deciding" what their refund policy may or may not be.

Hang in there, good luck

I canceled before the mad rush hit.
Both hotels said they would refund my deposit.
The Roman guy and the food tour I signed up for both said they would refund. Roman guy did ask a few times if I wanted to reschedule, but I said I’d prefer to simply cancel for now.
I did simply postpone my museum ticket, which is good for a year.
Lufthansa said they would refund as well. This was my biggest expense. My credit card company actually helped me get confirmation from them, but I still have nothing in writing saying they will refund my ticket cost, only verbal, so that worries me.

I haven’t even bothered to check my credit card statement to see if anything has come through yet. I needed to step back from the craziness. My travel insurance did not help with any of these refunds.

I have found that being kind and expressing my sympathy at what they must be dealing with has been successful for getting a timely response. They are most likely not only overwhelmed with demands from customers and fears about their livelihood, but may have family and friends personally affected by this tragedy as well.

I was scheduled to depart for Ireland on March 13th for 10 weeks in Europe. After seeing the news and speaking with several friends in Europe concerning their thoughts, I decided to cancel. My luck so far:

British Airways: Fee of $80 to cancel. Refund received within 3 days.

Ryan Air: Allowed for "free" change of 2 tickets for flights in 2021. Only charge was the fare difference of $18.00.

Air Malta: Flight from Amsterdam to Malta on 4/13. Web inquiry and email sent. Waiting on a response (I can't find my booking on their website so maybe they cancelled and have not told me yet.)

Booking.com: All reservations were "free cancellation" and all were cancelled for free. When planning months ahead I always book the free cancellation rather than the cheaper rate for no refund.

Hostelworld: All reservations were "free cancellation" and all were cancelled for free (I never book the cheaper amount to save a few bucks on room rate. Refund of 10% booking payment received within 2 days.

Rail Europe: I booked all my trains thru this site. I've been able to cancel 70% with only a few having a small fee. I will have to see about refund for trip from Paris to Amsterdam on 4/4 as now Europe is in lock down for tourists. Eurostar will not refund. A few issues with train from Munich to Paris. Refunds received within 3 days.

Eiffel Tower: I requested to cancel and just received an email advising me to expect a refund shortly.

Vatican Museum: Email request to cancel 4/24 morning tour and refund procedure started and credit card refunded within 60 days.

Virtu Ferries: Malta to Sicily on 4/17. Request to cancel on website and email advising credit card will be credited with no date give.

Rhatische Bahn AG: Had seat reservations on Bernina & Glacier Express. Email request sent and response that they will credit back full refund within a few days.

Musee d'Orsay in Paris on 4/3 & Raffaello exhibit in Rome 4/23 at Scuderie del Quirinale: Have not heard back from either one yet.

World Nomads Insurance: Purchased 12 hours too late for CV-19 coverage. Sent an email that I was going to cancel my trip to see if I could get a refund of policy but as it was over 30 days after purchase, it appears I may not receive back. Lesson learned is that in some cases it's better to buy insurance closer to your departure date. I have not received an answer back concerning my request to cancel.

Passion Play Oberammergau: This has been my biggest problem. I booked the official 1 night package for May 17th for a total cost of $434. I paid 25% deposit at time of booking with remainder to be paid 1 month prior to the show. I contacted them by email on 3/13 and received a response back on 3/16 that if I want to cancel I would have to pay a penalty. I advised them again to cancel and they charged by credit card an additional 55% for an 80% penalty. I had sent a request to my credit card company not to allow any further charges and they advised me they could not do that. I'm still corresponding with them as the ticket contract said if you cancel after 90 and before 61 days it's only a 60% penalty and both my requests to cancel were within that time frame and not on the 18th which happened to be the 60th day. It was a good thing I also purchased the insurance they recommended thru their website on October 29th which is well before anyone had heard of COVID-19. I will have to see how this works out as they don't seem to understand that my whole 10 week trip was cancelled and I don't plan on coming to Europe in 2020. This may all work out as quarantines and travel restrictions could extend into later dates or size of gatherings could still be restricted.

Most of the posters here are far more experienced and knowledgeable than I and may know about this particular issue that I think is deceptive and underhanded. I was notified by British Airways that I could rebook our trip scheduled to leave April 14 and get a voucher - what was not mentioned are the seating upgrade charges that we paid ($468). I recalled seeing a post on TripAdvisor by a guy that got a refund for his tickets but not the seat upgrade charges; I looked on the BA site and found the page that describes their policy but it is hard to draw any conclusion about the risk you take when you rebook and hit the "Submit" button. It is becoming possible that the flight could be cancelled due to what the EU decided yesterday, at which point I assume we would get a refund that would not include the seat upgrade charges. Anyone have experience with similar situations?

If BA cancels your flight, you will also get a refund of the seat selection fees.

Here is their policy from their website
https://www.britishairways.com/en-us/information/seating/seating-changes-and-refunds

I know this is domestic, but after Nevada was totally shut down last night, I called Alaska Air to cancel my flight to Reno. They actually were polite and issued me a full refund.

Alaska has earned my business for life.

The BA seat selection charge is an optional fee and they make it clear that is non-refundable, but there is a narrow exception if they cancel your flight. It is stated slightly differently in two places on the website:

https://www.britishairways.com/travel/seatrefundterms/public/en_us

https://www.britishairways.com/en-us/information/seating/seating-changes-and-refunds

Generally, if they cancel your flight they re-book you on a substitute, and the seat booking fee will roll over to the new flight so you can choose a seat in the same category without additional charge. If they are "unable to provide" a suitable seat on the replacement flight you are eligible for a refund.

It seems that language would apply if they cancel your flight and there is no alternate flight offered, which is what may happen with the new EU "travel ban."

It is not clear to me what happens if they cancel your flight and offer an alternate flight which you choose not to accept.

And if for some reason they do not cancel your flight, you can cancel yourself and get a voucher for future travel. In that case the seat selection fees you paid will roll over to your new flights.

If your flight is not until May, I suggest you just wait and see what delelops in the way of their policy.

Our trip was in March and we had refundable mileage tickets. We were able to cancel and get full refund of our miles and payment on the flights ( BA has a hefty supplemental charge on miles tickets, especially in business class). But the seat selection fees were not refunded and we lost quite a bit there.

United offered to refund my fair and seat upgrades because they cancelled the flights. I didn't even have to ask. The woman I spoke with said they technically weren't supposed to issue refunds if there was an alternative route. In my case she said the alternative was Munich, but that was not a "desirable" option (her words not mine, don't know why). This happened on Sat. morning and by Monday the refund showed up on my Amex.

Eurostar offered me an eVoucher for my March 30th ticket from Paris to London. The email says, "It will be valid until 30 June 2020 and you can use it to make a booking at eurostar.com for travel before 12 December 2020." Wondering if I should hold out and see if they cancel my train? If so, would I get a full refund?

I was supposed to leave March 13. Could only get a waiver for medical with doctors note for British Air...which I did. So I got that. Eurostar got a voucher. All hotels refundable. So now I must travel by July.. if the world is back to normal and I'm not bankrupt.

I add my tip about this discussion

There is a news from the Italian Government.
Has been published today the law about economic helps for the COVID-19 emergency. There are of course several things inside, but someones could be interesting for anybody canceled his trip.
Art.88 says that anybody cannot use a ticket for a public show, museum, monument or similar (due to the lock down), can ask a refund. Is valid from the 2nd of March to the end of the special period (at the moment the 3rd of April, but will be almost surely postponed). The refund is not in cash, but with a voucher of the same value of the ticket; you can spend it within one year from the emission.

So, if some of you have purchased some tickets (Coliseum, Uffizi gallery, an exhibition in Italy...) and cannot have a refund yet, please contact the seller to have the voucher.

@Jeff
I add another note about why sometimes refund takes time, mainly in this period. You have to remember that several services must be paid in anticipation. When I have a booking with a travel agency I work for (we do tailor made tours), I immediately check which services are included. If there are some special services (i.e. the visit of the Lamborghini factory) I immediately verify that is available and immediately block the activity (in this case the Lamborghini ask me to pay within few days). So, several time the travel agency spend part of the money immediately when you book a tour, not later the day of the tour.

Not all activities are the same, but is to understand why a refund could take time. A tourist when book and pay wants to be sure about what have paid for: the only way for the travel agency is to pay immediately the services and activities, so everything is 100% sure. In fact this period of refund and cancellation is a nightmare for TO.

Hello Jeff!

I like your levity and your sense of humor.

I hear the kindness of strangers (YAY) about these businesses taking time to refund, make excuses, barter with ya and so on.

However, here is the thing: BUSINESS INSURANCE. They have this in Italy as well. This is what a contractor/provider/etc. uses when an event is cancelled or the business has a loss of income, etc.
As sole proprietors (most you listed that are feet-dragging can be classified as such) they should have insurance or else they are personally liable if you trip on the sidewalk. That said, they need to do the expedient and right thing just like they ask us to do when we book with them.

Thank you, Jeff for the open conversation.

To Carol in Washington - I doubt that you studied that page you linked to on BA site. See the following:
Refund terms and conditions:
Paid seating is non-refundable unless:
there is an aircraft change and BA is unable to seat you in a suitable alternative seat.
there is a flight disruption causing you to be moved to another flight and BA is unable to seat you in a suitable alternative seat on your new flight.
Paid seating will not be refunded if you cancel your flight, are involuntarily upgraded due to oversales, or are not suitable to sit in the seat type you have selected.
If, in accordance with your fare rules, you choose to move to a different flight, you will be entitled to choose an equivalent seat on your new flight. However if an equivalent seat is not available the additional amount paid will be forfeited and will not be refunded.
You have 30 days after the last flight in your itinerary to apply for a refund.
Refund applications should be submitted online. Refund applications cannot be processed at the airport or onboard.
Unless otherwise stated, BA will only make a refund to the credit card used to pay for the pre-assigned seating.

I had mentioned the TripAdvisor post where the person who had an actual experience was told by a BA supervisor that their policy is that seating refunds are not refundable. Generally speaking, in unprecedented times like this, people should double-check facts before repeating them.

If your flight has been cancelled and already rebooked by British Airways within 48 hours of departure, there is no need to apply for a refund for your reserved seat as this will be processed automatically. If you do not receive a refund within three weeks of your flight being cancelled, please fill in the ‘Refund for paid seating’ form.

I have a flight booked with Air France to the Czech Republic and Italy in April and May - needless to say we have long ago cancelled plans and flights. I had submitted a refund request to Air France and they said they were "working on it". Today just to see if they have updated any info on their website I checked with their Covid19 information update.
You will all be very happy to know that according to them -
"The Air France network is not encountering any disturbances at the moment."

I would love to live in their world.
Take care everyone and spend your isolated hours planning the next amazing trip to Italy.

I’m getting a refund on my Israel tour. Still not sure about my Air Canada flights. I got an email nine days ago that the Tel Aviv to Toronto leg was canceled. That’s all it said. Nothing about what they were going to do about it. The website says they will rebook but I’ve heard nothing. Meanwhile the Toronto to Pittsburgh flight was moved. I’m hoping the Toronto to Tel Aviv leg is canceled soon, and them I’ll ask for a refund.

Our flight tomorrow night to Berlin was finally cancelled. Ovago finally got in touch with us this afternoon, and they said our airfare was too low to swap for Fall tickets. So we're getting a refund--whatever that means?
It's about time they contacted us.
Will try to never book future flights except with the servicing airline directly. Ovago booked the flight with American Airlines which passed it off to their partner, British Airways. Too many hands got in on the deal and they all kept passing the buck back and forth.

The train companies have been the worst. Airlines were proactive in my case (Virgin Atlantic, British Air). May be out $100 but that's it. Trains are just keeping our money. Screw them.

Beyond that, I decided not to request refunds from tour operators and to request a refund from my hotel (pre-booked). Tour operators and Museums are going to get crushed here. I can live without the $100 I prepaid (I hope). I don't know that they can. The Museums and arts are going to get crushed around the world. I look at it as doing my part to keep the arts alive. Very important to my wife and me. Still trying to get my hotel money back. Airbnb was fantastic.

Update: Two more of my Air Canada flights were canceled, and this time the email said I could get a credit equal to what I paid good for travel in the next 24 months. I had to go online and cancel the reservation to get the credit. When I went online, I had to choose between getting a credit for what I paid or getting a refund less the cancelation fees. I thought this was fair, except that I am not getting credit for the fees I paid to upgrade to comfort seats. These totaled $250. I am not sue whether it is worth the effort to try to get these refunded.

I just received our Delta refunds in my Cap One account 2 days ago...$6800 for 2 first class tickets...Detroit R/T to FCO...April 3-19.
Last week, Delta cancelled all flights to Europe for 30 days which covered the outbound date of our trip. But, I received no notice of cancellation from Delta and the reservation still showed in my Delta account.
I started texting Delta this past Monday morning...I kept getting automated responses so I just gave up and thought I would try calling next week. The next day, out of the blue, an actual person responded to my texts of the previous day asking if she could help. I gave her all the info she requested and she said she had refunded our money. She said it could take 7-10 days to show up in my Cap One account and that I would receive an email confirmation to this effect. I have still not received the email confirmation, but the funds showed up 2 days later in my Cap One account. Plus, the flights no longer appear in my Delta account. This was certainly a painless way to handle this!
To say the least, I am very pleased with Delta!
For those of you in a similar situation with Delta, I would wait until Delta cancels your flight and then try texting them. You may get the same automated responses that I received, but eventually someone does respond who can actually help you. It saves time spent on the phone...plus I had a text chain confirming what I had been told.

I got an email from my travel insurance yesterday saying they will be refunding my payment. If everyone comes through as they’ve said, I won’t have lost much money at all, but some indicated it could take months, so I’m doing my best to be patient.

Thx so much Jeff, for posting this useful question.

Air Canada began weeks ago by first refunding our seat upgrade fee, but just one way mind you. That was the first inkling of things to come. Then when British Air cancelled flights to Rome, we knew that it was only a matter of time, and that our airline this time, Air Canada, would follow suit. AC soon refunded our outbound flight but to date, they've not refunded our return nor our return upgraded seat fee.

Trenitalia--we got the same same message as everyone, as Lola has above explained: a credit. That's mostly OK by us.

Aeroplan: epic fail. We used points for our first night in Rome and have been getting the runaround. Contacted the hotel directly about getting those points refunded. They said to go instead through Expedia---I don't even remember using them! Aeroplan has discontinued answering their phone lines and when we tried to do things online with them, they disallowed my password, insisting that I create a new one. When I tried to do that, they refused my attempt coz 'there was more than one person using my account.' ??Nonsense. have decided to give that one a rest for a while!

Our trip was supposed to be a return to the Amalfi coast after a 30 yr absence. The hotels in Procida and Salerno, plus the B&B in Atrani, all refunded us no probs at all. Ironic as hell coz I'd gone to extreme lengths to secure certain special rooms, obsessive-like.

We lost a lot of money on the Amalfi town apartment rental, as its cancellation dates were rather severe. The Rome apartment owner has been dragging his heels with our full refund, so I have reluctantly lodged an official complaint with Booking.com. I have reminded Booking.com that in fact, they do owe us a strong representation in this matter, coz 3 yrs ago, one of their reps caused us a TON of unnecessary angst by calling us with days to spare to cancel our upcoming apartment rental in Uzes, France. Their various reps each gave differing reasons for the cancellation, so I just contacted the actual owners (a Brit couple in Amsterdam who rent numerous upscale properties), who settled the nonsense immediately. *Note that we were then still grieving an especially messy family tragedy and the last thing that we needed then was additional stress. i was furious with Booking.com then. They 'dropped the ball.'
By far, the most-anticipated rental this trip was to have been a splurge in Ravello. We lost a considerable amount of cash with the deposit. The owner has graciously offered to honour that deposit further down the road.
I am a retired teacher with strong travel insurance coverage, so whatever losses we might have will likely be covered.
Spare a thought for the lowest paid and least secure workers in the Italian Tourism industry. No doubt, there are all sorts of horror stories that those folks are now dealing with.
I am done. The end.

Booking.com emailed me that they are refunding a nonrefundable hotel I had reserved in England for next week. I had just assumed we'd be helping the hotel in their time of need.

Update to clarify:

I misspoke about Air Canada giving full refunds: they actually are instead offering credit for full amount for 24 months. I got the refund for the seat upgrade mixed up with the main flight.
I am done. The end.

NORWEGIAN AIR is giving full refunds.
The form is easy to fill out. I sure hope this airline does not go under because having direct San Francisco to Rome flights has been great!
My language school there is giving me credit which is OK because I know I will be back.

Just two:
Aer Lingus: voucher good for five years.
Booking.com: free cancellation

We had a 2-week trip to Scotland/Belfast set to start mid-April. American Air essentially canceled the flights, before the total shut down we were rerouted by 6+ hours because their flight from Dublin to Philadelphia had to be scratched, PHL is not an entry point. These non refundable basic economy tickets purchased last a September were now allowed to be refunded. Our plan is to rebook the entire trip for early October, and doing this early April so that if this becomes a”no-go” we will have under AA’s current policy the ability to rebook the same basic fare for up to 6 months no fee. Two of our 4 lodgings were prepaid, no refund, but they are have already notified they are allowing rebooking no charge. The other two were without deposit and allowed cancellation, so we can revise. We have the Causeway and Titanic tour, which allows a transfer in advance. And a bus-ferry combined from Glasgow to Dublin, which looks like can be transferred for a fee. This leaves the Falkirk Wheel, which if it cannot be transferred is a small loss, so be it. So the trip moves 6 months down the road but otherwise a set up, and hopefully it comes off.

The AA refund procedure was easy.

And we realize how lucky we are in all of this, both dollars and health.

Aer Lingus: voucher good for five years.
Phenomenal!

I just cancelled a pair of domestic Southwest flights that were the first and last leg on my May trip to Europe. They've given a little extra "LUV" by extending the credits to June 30, 2021. Since I had purchased the flights in November, for me this represents an 8 month extension beyond their usual "12 months from the date of purchase" policy.

Updated June 3, 2020: Southwest has extended vouchers (within certain parameters) through September 2, 2022!

Speaking more generally, it appears to be a credit valid for the 12 full months following my return flight - far enough out that I could take the same trip next year. Exactly what I hope to do, if everything falls through for this year!

Yes, I love Southwest.

(If you're wondering why I cancelled instead of waiting to see if the flights would be cancelled, I wanted to get the credit to book new flights that have the potential to be my reschedule. And I fly Southwest enough to know that I should be able to use them by next June.)

I got a whopping 69$ refund on my airfare that cost 776$. Still, I feel grateful. I don’t fear losing everything because I can’t work. I have food in my home. I even have toilet paper! And I’ll travel again once this is over, maybe even more often since this has reminded me how fleeting life can be.

My refund from Eating Europe has already processed. Still waiting on The Roman Guy, but I’m sure they’re overwhelmed beyond anything they could have imagined. I chose to postpone my ticket for Accademia rather than get the partial refund. I’m prepared to lose that money if necessary. The hotels I’d reserved just never ran my credit card. I’ll definitely use both of them again. The people were so kind.

Our travel plans to Rome were for April 30 traveling with Delta. When I called few weeks ago I was told if I cancelled there would be a change fee. Advised to check back. Called Allianz Travel Insurance and they said if I changed my departure date to later they would transfer policy to new travel plans.

Well now we've decided to just cancel altogether and just wait and see what happens. Called Delta and they cancelled our flight but I was confused with what seems was someone 'reading script' to me and using words like cancelled but I wanted a refund to my credit card. He then told me our credit goes to our Delta account and I needed to talk to Allianz about a 'refund'. Allianz says I need to file claim as this coronavirus is a 'pandemic' and not covered by their insurance.

I now wish I had read my email from The Points Guy regarding cancellations/refunds. They advised to wait until airline cancels flights then they are responsible for refunding monies.

Since I have already cancelled our flight, any advise from anyone who has run into this?
Anna

SAS Airlines: London to Riga (via Copenhagen), Mid-May

• I received a text overnight that there had been a change to my flight.
• Looking online this morning, the 2nd leg had been cancelled, but not the first.
• Fearful of cancelling/requesting a refund before both flights had been cancelled, I called their US 800#.
• I was #1 in the queue and waited less than 30 seconds for a rep to come online.
• He confirmed the booking could be cancelled for a full refund, which is now in queue.

Update Apr 13, 2020: received email notification of my 2 refunds, in full, for flight and seat assignment
- waiting for funds to credit to my VISA

Update Apr 16, 2020: full refund credited to my VISA, including full fare and extra seat assignment
- not bad, 2 weeks from date the flight was cancelled!

Munich, Vienna, Slovenia trip March 12-28

British Airlines: Voucher for full amount. Downside is we were traveling the first day of the travel ban, so couldn’t get through on the 800 number and had to call direct which resulted in $150 long distance fees (I would never have guessed it would be this much).
Easy Jet: No refund for flight on March 13 as it flew to Munich. Return flight on March 27th was cancelled so a total refund.
Hotel am Viktualienmarkt – Owners unresponsive as to refund or credit for future travel. Charged credit card on the 13th for full amount.
So far Vienna has been wonderful. Total refund for train tickets booked through ORR and Opera tickets, hotel still remains uncharged although they said they would charge….fingers crossed!
Slovenia:
VRBO: No refund. Host did not cancel formally (even though cancellation is on site), so no fee credit even from VRBO. He did offer a voucher…but will probably go unused.
Direct Bookings: One night deposits not refunded…and deposits made with bank draft, so no additional change possible. Which is a win…
https://slocally.com/ Vesna was wonderful. She updated me with warnings of the virus prior to coming, and after we cancelled, she returned 100% of our deposit. Very professional service…

Loss could have been worse…but also better.

Luckily, we received a full refund from a Delta Vacations which included flights into Rome this past week, returning from Paris towards the end of April, & hotel in Rome.
Trenitalia refunded less a 10€ service fee but Flixbus is giving us a hard time. They are only offering vouchers for use within 12 months even though the date of service has been cancelled on their website as far as I can determine. I sent two emails asking for either a refund or more flexibility in when we can use the vouchers. So far, they are refusing both requests. I plan to dispute the charges on my credit card.

Everything refunded!
RS Tour - 100% refund
AA non-refundable Premium Economy flight bought on AA web sight (two legs each way AA, one leg each way BA) - 100% refund. Requested refund on phone quickly, no question. Refund processed in 5 days.
Pretour and post tour hotels (reserved hotels with option to cancel) - 100% refunded.
I feel very fortunate that I didn't have to select a voucher or submit a claim to the insurance company.
Good luck to everyone. Stay safe!

TrenItalia just emailed me, confusing me with someone named 'Hannah' (???). They've since emailed a corrective message and claim now to be working on getting us a full refund, unlike their initial declaration of only offering 'credit'. Trip Advisor has just done much the same. After initially giving us only about 40% refund, due to our Amalfi rental's severe cancellation date schedule, TA are now claiming to be working on a similar 'full refund' same as the treno folks.

In both cases, the recent updates were unprompted on our part.

Fingers crossed.
I am done. The end.

Haven't been doing a whole lot yet - waiting to get closer to our original travel dates for some of them. Got 3 refunds from airbnb and 2 credits (for the two folks who only offered 50% credit). Got a refund from Cross Country (UK) for a 'non-refundable advance' purchase train ticket. Put in for a refund for another advance purchase train ticket from Grand Central but still waiting on that.

Waiting until closer for one hotel booked via Expedia, 2 hotels booked thru Air Miles (I don't even care if I get the money back, I just want my air miles back!). And I'll take a credit from WestJet and Rabbies tours as we will take our Scotland trip whenever we can, so I'm not worried about those (which are the two biggest outputs in terms of our trip).

OK, here is my most meaningful response post: after asking for it over the phone early this morn, Air Canada gave us a full refund that was every penny including 2 seat upgrade fees (one of which had actually already been fully refunded automatically ahead of our request this morn).
*Flyers TAKE NOTE---with all the new traveler's rights legislation that has become the norm, one is entitled to a full refund no problem, BUT YOU MUST FIRST ASK FOR IT. This has doubtlessly been addressed in previous posts here, but I believe that it is worth repeating, given that flights constitute a fair share of our travel expenditures.
best

I am done. The end.

My Wife and I had to cancel our trip to Venice, Florence and Rome.

We ended up getting a voucher from British Airways(because we’re planning to take the same trip next year). We were also able to cancel our hotel reservations. We’ll also plan on staying at the same hotels next year. The only money we lost was our train tickets from Venice to Florence and Florence to Rome. I applied for a refund and it was denied. We booked non-refundable tickets so we’re out about $150-$175.

The Air Canada Frequent Flyer program partner, Aeroplan, went to bat for us today with the stubborn Rome hotel that was resisting any refund. That effort worked and all of our points were restored. Business 101: respect your clientele and that will likely result in repeat business. Simple. We will use AC again for sure.
I am done. the plague.

Joel - I don't know if it would help to keep an eye on your train tickets and see if they start offering credits/refunds. I had purchased two non-refundable advance train tickets in early March (before things really started blowing up) and I waited it out and both companies offered refunds. I had one credited back to my cc and the other I'm still waiting on - they said it could be up to 18 days and I'm at about 15 days. These were two UK train companies. I did get an email from the one that I haven't gotten the refund from yet saying they were closing down completely for a few months.

I didn't try to cancel on my own, but waiting until the companies started offering refunds on advance purchase tickets.

Thalys:* I've had a non-refundable train ticket purchased thru Rail-Europe that was refunded when I pointed out to them that the train was cancelled and the only Thalys train that day was over 6 hours from my original 0815 train to Amsterdam on 4/4. Money in my account within 3 days.

Trenitalia: Full refund for all customers opting out of travel for reasons associated with the coronavirus pandemic. Requests are to be submitted by 12 May 2020. As my first train in Italy is not until 20 April I thought I would let earlier request clear out before I submit for my tickets that were non refundable.

DB: I have a trip scheduled from Munich to Paris on 18 May and as of now DB offers a free exchange of all tickets, in the form of a voucher. Valid for all travel up until 30 April 2020 as long as the tickets were booked by 13 March 2020. Will wait in see if the travel by date gets pushed back to May as of right now this will be the only ticket I cannot receive credit.

Eurostar is pushing the dates back as we get into April and is now offering a free exchange of all tickets, in the form of a voucher, for journeys between 13 March and 01 June 2020. Vouchers should be used by 30 September 2020, for travel up to 31 March 2021. As my trip was not scheduled until 18 May, I will wait a bit longer to see if the travel by date is moved up one more month so I can actually use it next year.

Still waiting to hear back from the Passion Play as I have submitted my refund form.

World Nomads has indicated that they will refund my travel insurance as I had not started my travel and will not be making any claims.

Heard back from Grand Central Rail yesterday. In the email it said to call, but since I'm in Canada and they're in the UK, I didn't want to do that. Sent an email this morning, heard back in less than 10 min and a refund is on the way!

Regarding my canceled flights on Air Canada mentioned above... I received a voucher for the amount of the flight and taxes, but this did not include the $250 is seat selection fees. Being unable to even get in a queue on the phone, I emailed them to ask for a refund. I got an email back the next day saying they would get back to me but it might take four weeks. Then in less than a week I got four emails from them telling me they would be refunding my $250, but it could take two months or so until I see it. So far so good, but I will feel better when I actually see the refund on my credit card statement.

Waited until today to call American about trip departing 4/26. Tickets were "bought" with miles. Took literally 3 minutes to get an agent and another 4 minutes to complete. Miles have already been posted back to my account. He said the refund on the taxes/fees would take 3-4 weeks. Cancelled AirBnB weeks ago and refunds hot with days. Agent was very nice and overall surprising easy and great experience cancelling AA.

I have been stalking Delta for about 6 weeks re: refund, and ,yesterday, after noticing that my flights were no longer found during flight searches, I called. yesterday, received confirmation that I could get a full refund for my US - ZRH FCO- US flight in May. They cancelled some of the flights and were trying to rebook vs refund. No........It’s a huge chunk of change (14 of us, with 10 being seniors), $1500/ticket.

Roman Guy indicates he will be refunding us within 30 days.

Italo and Trenitalia have provided partial refunds per terms of the ticket, and I will have to monitor for another ticket on Trenitalia as I booked nonrefundable so my hope is probably them cancelling the train, which is probably unlikely (Florence to Salerno).

All told, I can live with what I have had to eat. It’s just stressful in times of economic uncertainty so prefer to maximize refund.

I had tickets booked to "Raffaello" exhibit in Rome at the Scuderie Del Quirinale on April 24th. I just received an email indicating that tickets and services for cultural events expected from 8 March to 3 May that were cancelled due to the CV-19 health emergency provide for refunding through "the issue of a voucher of the same amount as the purchase order, to be used within one year of issue."
You must apply for the voucher by 3 June and they say a voucher will be issued within 30 days of the request.

I think I will wait until May to request as I hope to reschedule my trip to Italy arriving in early May 2021.
It would have been a wonderful exhibit of over 200 paintings and drawings.

The hotel at end of cancelled RS Alps My Way tour in Chamonix where we booked additonal nights has a policy of a full refund of deposit if more than 30 days from arrival, but they are not honoring that at this time. This was their response when I emailed to cancel.

"Dear guests, Given the current situation due to COVID-19, the tourism sector is particularly and immediately impacted by this situation. We were forced to close our establishment on Monday March 16 without having been prepared for it and the reopening date is unknown to date. Therefore, we must be careful not to jeopardize our family business and our employees. We wish to apply the order submitted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and adopted by the government which authorizes tourism stakeholders, including accommodation providers, to no longer reimburse the deposit received for stays between March 1 and September 15, 2020, but to offer a credit of the same amount valid for a period of 18 months. If it is not used within 18 months, the amount will be refunded in full. Thus, following your cancellation, we inform you that a credit is available in our establishment until October 2021. After this date, if you have not used your credit, this amount will be fully refunded. If the situation improves quickly we will contact you for an early refund, if that is your choice."

My friend and I had planned a 10 day golf and touring trip to Scotland for May 6-16, with six nights in an apartment in St. Andrews and three in Edinburgh. We booked flights last November on United and tee times at the Old Course, Jubilee and Carnoustie and paid for them in advance. All were noted as non-refundable. Having read some of the painful experiences here I thought I’d thrown in my two cents worth as well. This was a dream trip for us...I had played the Old Course and been to Europe four times, but my friend had never been outside the country. Last week we made the difficult decision to cancel out trip and since I handled all the bookings it was left to me to unwind it. All of my other trips were independently planned using Ricks tools and this forum, so I had plenty of knowledge to fall back on. We decided that we wanted to plan the same trip in May of 2021, so that was my plan in contacting our vendors. The St. Andrews Links Trust offered a 60% refund of our $600 deposit, OR, in July they would reassign our tee times to a time in May 2021 as close to the date we had this year Since we had gotten the tee time through a letter last August we accepted the rebooking. Carnoustie offered the same thing, which meant once we got the Old Course Tee time they would give us a new one within 48 hours of that.

Our largest expense was our airline tickets. My friend paid for his ticket with his credit card at a cost of $1,300, plus an additional $580 to upgrade to Economy Plus. I used 310,000 United Miles to pay for mine, plus taxes of $290 for taxes and fees. I contacted a Mileage Plus agent who, after listening to our situation did the following: She refunded the $580 to my friends credit card that day and sent him a $1,300 United travel voucher which he can use to book a new flight next year once we get our tee times. For me she returned my miles into my account and waived the $100 redeposit fee. All that in a 20 minute phone. My biggest hurdle was the apartment, for which we had paid $2,300 in advance. While the owner had a no refund policy, he said he would try to rent the apartment on our dates, and if successful would refund all our money. If not, he would give is a refund of $350, and another $350 as a credit toward a rental if we stayed with him in 2021. Part of the deposit was a $500 damage deposit which he credited to my credit card that same day. The last was easy. I am a Hilton Honors Diamond member and had booked us at the Doubletree Hotel in Edinburgh. All that canceling those reservations took was a click of the mouse. All in all we were very satisfied with the results.

As I read through some of the trials and tribulations my fellow travelers have been having I recalled some of the advice I received from this site when I planned my first family trip to Europe. Don’t book with third parties just to save a little money. I have been loyal to two airlines in my career and life. Southwest domestically and United internationally and to Hawaii. Though the issues I’ve had with either have been limited, by booking direct I have always been able to get help and resolutions to problems quickly. I was also told to avoid tour groups who require/demand payment in full up front. In our four trips to Europe, all independently, I have always found those don’t. Lastly, I was told to be nice, no matter how frustrated I may get. It has always worked. Everyone is going through trying times and many small businesses are going under, especially in Italy which I love and where I was going in the fall. They all know how hard it is for us to cancel trips and give up on dreams, but they too are trying to survive. A little patience and understanding, I believe, will help everyone who has to cancel to get the best possible solution to their problem. My prayers for all of you. We will get through this and be on the road again, hopefully sooner than later.

TOTAL FRUSTRATION
We are still working on getting our flight reimbursed.
We booked our flights through expedia , for our trip to Italy end of march.It has been a major pain. Had we boxed directly with the airlines we were told we would have been given the option of a refund or a credit for another time to fly but since it was through a third party we had to go through expedia. It took many many attempts to reach them and then told him they can't do anything for us and we need to contact the airlines, so no help what's so ever.

We did take out travel insurance with AIG travel guard and were told that the trip being cancelled due to covid 19 isn't a covered reason for a claim. The person we spoke to was trying to be helpful and did give us reasons for a claim that they could accept and we are in the process of trying that but each time they ask for some additional information.

Denise

Bupkis?
LOL, had to look that one up.

After reading comments about American Airlines flights missing/changed for the month of October, I checked on our flight to Rome. The flight wasn't showing up so I called the airline. I got a call back after 10 min (who wants to wait). The lady mentioned there are no longer nonstop flights to Italy, that I could rebook through Iberia or BA with a connection. I told her our original flight was nonstop because connecting flights with a toddler can be nightmarish. She stated since this was a change by the airline, I could receive a full refund for the flight. I've submitted the information needed for a refund but from what I've read on this thread, it's going to take quiet some time to receive, which I'm fine with.

On a side note, I was devastated as I cancelled our apartment bookings through booking.com (refundable/non prepayment). I knew the trip would be cancelled and we've already discussed the fact that we won't be traveling until the end of next year, possibly 2021 but it was so gut wrenching. I was looking forward to returning to Italy.

Amanda

I received an email from Delta Airlines a couple days ago regarding our May 5th flight to Rome being cancelled. I called and requested a refund instead of a credit and they approved the refund immediately. They said that full refund would be received in 7-21 business days. We were thrilled!

British Airways: I received an email and text overnight (April 17) from British Airways that my May 11th Denver to London flight has been cancelled. I got through to their toll-free number on the 7th try, waited on hold a bit over 40 minutes, on the call 5 minutes with a very nice guy from Manchester. England.

Full refund, including seats, in process and expected to be refunded within 2-3 days.

Update Apr 21, 2020: full refund credited to my VISA, including full fare and extra seat assignment
- 2 business days (4 calendar days) from notice of flight cancellation and my call to British Airways

American Airlines made my 06/16/20 trip to Venice disappear only showing the flight home on 07/1/20. I canceled the entire ticket for the trip. We are thinking to rebook hopefully May 2021. Question, will I be able to cancel the flight insurance for a refund ($28)or keep the credit for a future trip? I tried on line (etravelprotection.com/aa) and It would not let me. I will have to call allianz which right now has a very long wait time to speak to anyone. Any input is appreciated.
Janet

I see most people posting refunds about their flight info. I was supposed to go on March 22 via British airways. The company I booked through (tripmasters) conformed that I will be getting the full refund from them as well as all my hotels (I’m assuming this is because it was at the beginning of all this craziness). I haven’t seen one dime yet, but I trust them.

As for tours, the Vatican refunded me quickly. So far nothing from the doges palace. I read the doges palace website was going to be refunding people who had tickets for certain dates and not to contact them, but haven’t seen anything yet. As for the colosseum, I submitted my info for a voucher in which they immediately gave me. No refund, only voucher to use in the next year. Let’s hope I’m able to!

As for Trenitalia, I submitted my refund claims, they were received, but haven’t gotten anything back yet.

Our KLM flights to St Petersburg have been refunded but we are still waiting on the refund for our flight to Glasgow. Apart from the lodge we booked with the Landmark Trust in Scotland all of the hotels have offered full refunds rather than credit vouchers.

Walks of Italy has been awful to deal with since beginning of March. So many have recommended them, I wouldn't ever use them at this point. When I wrote to cancel beginning of March, they sent me an email reply stating they would be issuing full refunds within 4-6 weeks. I wrote after 6 weeks since I had not heard anything nor seen any refund. I was then told via email that they'll get back to me within 21 days with "proposed solutions". I will say that they are at least responding. Just not issuing refunds like they say they will. If it continues for another week, I'll have to contact my bank, send them all the correspondence, the refund policy listed on Walks' website, and then file it as fraudulent. Hope my bank reimburses me. It's a shame. I realize that these companies are so overwhelmed but not processing refunds is only resulting in the loss of a customer forever, not just the cancellation of the one tour.

TAP Air Portugal is our airline and I booked fully refundable tickets. When I try to cancel the flights online, the only option is voucher. I wrote them an email and will hope for a positive experience.

Re: Air Canada. I got a notice today of my June 8 - July 28 flights being rescheduled without consultation . . . and no option for refund unless I want to let them hold on to the money as a 'credit' for future travel. The rescheduling is the (ethical?) problem: they added segments but did not honor the 'premium economy' fare or make any price adjustment. All my scheduled activities (including singing engagements) have been cancelled. Glad I bought insurance.

I finally got my refund from Overseas Adventure Travel for an Italy tour. It took filing a claim with my credit card company and complaints with the Massachusetts Better Business Bureau and State Attorney General.

Delta Airlines- refund to credit card on non refundable ticket.
Trenitalia- refund minus service fee to credit card for a ticket that allowed changes. The refund was given within three days of request.
All Italian and Germany Hotels cancelled without charge. Booked as cancellations allowed. None had taken a precharged deposit, they had simply “pinged” the credit card.
Florence Museums-voucher for one year of date of email.
Venice Museums- no response
Walks of Italy- computer generated responses to inquiries. Offer of voucher. No refund to date. Policy when booked - may cancel tour five days in advance for refund.

My family in Europe are also dealing with cancellations and refunds for trips they had planned.

Robert---we had an almost identical situation. One must ask AC for a full flight refund, and they are obliged to honour that. You don't have to settle for 'credit vouchers' or like that. Bon chance. I am done. The end.

See I have my train refunds on my credit card. My WestJet went into the 'travel bank' - I asked about getting a refund for the seat selection, but it also went into the travel bank. That's fine.

Got an email from Expedia about my 2 nights in Aberdeen - looks like I will get a voucher to be used a year from date of issue at the particular hotel. Hopefully it's from the date of issue by expedia (which - if I read correctly - is how it works) and not a year from when I originally purchased (which was prob Feb). And hopefully it's as long as I book within the year - in case we can't travel until next June or something like that. I booked non-refundable, so it's fine. If I don't use it, it's not a huge amount. I'm waiting until as close to my cancel date as I can to extend the use by date.

My only other ones left are my two air miles hotel bookings. They say to wait until 14 days out to do the refunds - but it looks like I will get my air miles back, and I think I'll get back the money spent as well (again, not a large amount). So I have to give it a week or so before pursuing those.

So overall - I should be refunded or given company credits for everything.

I received the cancellation email in late March. I asked for a refund and mailed the form and tickets back to Germany shortly thereafter. I followed up with emails after April 6 as requested and only received automated responses that they were very busy and would respond in the future. At the end of April I gave up and filed a dispute with my CC company for the full charge for 4 tickets. This puts the ball in their court for a refund or reasonable explanation and dates to respond. Three weeks to wait before the chargeback is permanent.

Lousy!

I'm stuck playing a game of "chicken" with Lufthansa. Flight to Italy on June 15th has not been cancelled and they will ONLY offer to re-book me by August 30th, but travel must be complete by December 31st of this year!! Really!?

I realize I bought a non-refundable ticket, they're bleeding money, but, c'mon! I'd be happy with a voucher, but at least give me a year from my original booking date. My wife is a school nurse and can only fly in the summer.

Very unhappy with Lufthansa so far. Live and learn, I guess.

gparvin, in most cases, it's definitely a game of patience - waiting to see if your flight will be cancelled. Given that Italy is not allowing tourists by June 15th, it still seems probably that the flight will be cancelled. See my story below ….. my flight was finally cancelled 8 days before departure.

AirBaltic - flights were suspended through May 12th; my flight was on May 16th. I was losing hope that it would be cancelled and had started emails with customer service to get clarity on voucher options. Surprisingly, I got an overnight response and learned that their vouchers were good through May, 2021. I knew I couldn't fly until summer of 2021 (earliest) so was still holding out, when (lo and behold) overnight I received the email notification that my flight had been cancelled.

Their "flight cancelled" email led to a landing page where the only option was a voucher. I knew their website had a refund option and went there instead, following the steps for a full refund, which I expect to take a while.

UPDATE
May 29, 2020: Full refund received (with pennies exchange rate loss) for May 16th flight, seat reservation and checked bag
- 3 weeks following flight cancellation
- 13 days following original flight date

Here is a summary:

Delta Airlines: Refund received an a flight cancelled by Delta (See related posts in the Transportation section of the forum
.https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/delta-flight-gone-but-reservation-still-valid

Hotels before and after RS Tour: Cancelled with no penalty

RS Tour: Waiting for likely cancellation of September Best of England Tour.

Turkish Air refunded every penny of our flights from Denver-Chicago-Istanbul-Lubjlana and return from Dubrovnik through Istanbul-Chicago-Denver. No fuss, no hassle. We were notified by our travel agent when Turkish Air canceled the flights (late May and mid June) that she had filed refund requests. It took just about a week for the refunded money to appear in our accounts. On the other hand, we still haven't received either refund or vouchers from Lufthansa for flights from Denver to Athens and back mid and late April. Mixed bag. Did receive credit from Travel Guard for both trips trip insurance, though. Everything for the two Rick Steves tours has been fully refunded from the RS company..

So our April through August plans are mostly cancelled. Fortunately the majority of lodging I’d booked was cancelable with no charge. But that leaves $2000 in either vouchers or non refundable amounts. Unlikely we will end up using the majority of the vouchers. But overall am pleased with the options offered in light of these crazy times. The companies that have been flexible are the ones we will all go to are recommend once we can travel again.

GNV- Ferry from Naples to Palermo and return €360 -May 10 and June 2. Started running again on May 4th, but for very specific urgent needs, tourism not included. Emailed to cancel, no response yet. Web site says they are only offering vouchers to be used by Dec 31, 2020. Non transferable. Likely will not use vouchers

Trenitalia- have submitted 4 separate refund request. Emails confirming receipt of requests stating 60-90 dates for refunds. €200.

Direct Ferries, Italy to Croatia June 12. ferry crossing cancelled last week. Only voucher offered, to be used by May 2021. I’m going to try to contest the charge since crossing was cancelled by ferry company. €250

Prague Apartment. The one and only booking outside of booking.com. Non cancelable rate was €100 less so booked that way. Who would have imagined a Pandemic? However, the company offered a transferable voucher, good through 2021. €489.

DBahn- train from Prague to Belgium. Unless borders still closed in July, no voucher or refund. €120.

DFDS ferry from Amsterdam to England- July- will wait and see if we can even travel out of Italy to the UK by then. If ferry service remains suspended we receive voucher. If we cancel, we forfeit tickets £328.00. Unlikely to use vouchers.

Cottage rental for week in Scotland- Scottish Country Cottages - was non refundable with final payment due May 23rd. Just received email stating new final payment date was July 11, and if cancelled before then, only the £20 deposit was forfeited. More than fair. We cancelled this week.

Hadrians Wall Hike- Contours Walking Tours - will all hinge on ability to travel in July. If we cancel, the £200 non refundable deposit/voucher can be used through 2022, at an unspecified date. By far the most flexible so far. We might actually use this.

Cunard QM2- August 14 sailing. final payment was due April 14. After this date, if we canceled for any reason, any non refundable amount would issued as a future cruise credit. If Cunard cancelled, we’d receive refund. So we cancelled (for many reasons) and are waiting for our $641 deposit. They say it could take 60 days to process credit. (QM2 cruises cancelled through July)

Auto Europe- cancelled a month ago and received credits within a couple days.

Except for the Prague Apartment, all of our lodging was booked through booking.com. One reservation, I had inadvertently prepaid (but was refundable) and received credit two days after cancellation. Will absolutely continue to use booking.com for lodging.

So far:
Norwegian Air - Norwegian cancelled on 5/4 and I requested a refunded via their website. I haven't heard back.

EasyJet- Flight has not been cancelled.

Corsair - I found out the flight was cancelled after visiting their website on 5/13 (no email). I booked through booking .com and they will not respond until 30 days prior to departure. No details on refunds from either Corsair or Booking.com. Sent an email to Corsair on 5/13 - no reply. Booking.com has no email address or live chat.

Ryanair- Flight has not been cancelled.
Amalfi Coast Hotel - Reservation was non-refundable through booking.com. Inquired about a refund on 5/5 and was sent an email from booking.com on 5/13 stating refund would be given. Not received yet.
London Hotel - Refundable reservation was cancelled on 5/5 and refund given on 5/7

Milan Hotel - non-refundable reservation was cancelled on 5/5. Was told they would try and resell the room for me to get a refund. Not holding my breath.
Paris Hotel - Refundable reservation through Expedia. Cancelled on 5/5 and am waiting on the refund.
Florence Hotel - Refundable reservation through booking.com, cancelled on 5/5 and received refund on 5/7
Autoeurope car rental - cancelled on 5/5, refunded on 5/10
Rome Turbo Pass - Inquired about cancelling on 5/7. Their policy is to charge about a 30% fee for cancelling. Have not pursued so far.
Universal Studios London - They are closed until July, was told we would be getting a refund, but have not received it yet.
We have travel insurance with a cancel for any reason option. The cancel for any reason option pays 75% of the cost. We have not decided whether to use the insurance policy or save it until we reschedule the trip. The policy is good for 24 months.

This is very important

For those of you contemplating a credit card chargeback, be very careful how you phrase your request: You must call it "product or service not delivered as purchased." Any other terms, calling it fraud for example, will get your request denied.

Also, remember that a charge back is the nuclear option. If you do one and win, the merchant may send you to collections. Or put you on their black list and refuse to do business with you in the future.

My brother booked via Airbnb but haven't received anything yet...

Italo: Still no luck with cancelling my train tickets. I now think I know the cause. They can't refund me since the card that I used to purchase the tickets renewed a month ago and has a new valid date and CVV code. Will try customer service, and hope my Italian is still passable.

edit: Now it appears to be a PayPal related issue.

That should not be an issue. After I made my reservations my card was compromised. I was issued a new card and my refunds are coming in fine (but slow). I guess it's possible different cards work different way, though.

We were supposed to be in Scandinavian right now. I started the cancellation process in April when it became very apparent that we weren't going anywhere. I have been incredibly successful in getting refunds for even non-refundable purchases. I'm still cautious until I truly see it hit the credit statement but indications are good. People have been very accommodating. One train company pushed out the expiration date on a voucher from 4 months to a year upon request. Hotels.com offered to refund a non-refundable room or give me an open credit for the room plus 15%.

Coopculture voucher requests open until 30 May:

FYI, if you purchased tickets through Coopculture for dates between 8 March and 17 May, you can request a voucher that can be applied to re- booking, and is good for one year.

https://voucher.coopculture.it

From the acknowledgement email:

1. This voucher is not transferable;
2. The validity of the voucher is subject to verification of the validity of the security for which it is issued and / or the existence of the specific conditions that legitimize its obtaining, in accordance with the provisions of article 88 of the legislative decree. n. 18/2020;
3. If the purchase was made by an Intermediary, the voucher is issued to the Intermediary, which responds to its Customer;
4. This voucher is valid for re-booking a similar ticket / service to be used within one year from the date of issue;
5. The new reservation, without any additional charge, can be made by email to [email protected], not before May 30th 2020 or by another online method which will be communicated, compatibly with the cessation of the containment measures, the definition the date of reopening of the monuments and of the archaeological area, and in relation to any new provisions that will be imparted on the adoption of measures aimed at limiting or reducing the gatherings and to limit access;
6. All updates will be published on the website www.coopculture.it .

Jeff,

Have you received your refund from https://www.walksofitaly.com ?

I cancelled my trip along with 3 other ladies to Italy on March 17th. We were supposed to fly out on June 5th. I cancelled all tours and Walks of Italy has been the only company yet to refund. I realize this it is a very difficult situation for everyone with the Pandemic.

Any suggestions?

Thank you!
Helen

Well - expedia gave me a voucher to use at the Ibis Aberdeen, and only at the Ibis. Which is sorta fine, but it's only good for 12 mos from date of issue, and I need to start the stay within those 12 mos, so I can't use the voucher in April to book a stay for next August. Hopefully we will get to Scotland next May - otherwise, only out $160, so not a lot.

I have to give a shout out to United. I know may people had a bad experience but mine was outstanding. We had a trip to Italy scheduled for May 26- June 12, flying United. I did what many people recommended and just waited out. Two weeks ago I saw that the flights were cancelled, and then I submitted a request for refund through their online portal. Got an email that said they were behind, it would take 21 business days to get back to us. Fast forward to last Saturday, United called me on my cell and told me that our flights were cancelled, and we would be receiving a refund. I told the rep that I had already requested the refund, and he said he could not find it. He apologized and said he'd fast track it. This morning I received the credit back on my credit card. I'm still in disbelief.

Lufthansa, Walks of Italy, and two hotels are promising a full refund, which I’m thankful for.

The only bad experience I’m having is with a prominent hotel in Venice which I pre-paid 4 nights non-refundable ($1,400). I asked very nicely for a refund knowing full-well I’m not entitled to one.

Their response was a paragraph of EU or Italian law basically saying they don’t have to give me anything. However they said I can have a voucher which is good for 1 year from “date of issue”, but there was also a sentence stating it’s good until 12/24/21!

So which is it? 1 year from date of issue (whatever that is) or until 12/24/2021? I have, again, politely asked for clarification but they are ignoring me.

Below is the lengthy email that we just received regarding our Italian rail tickets, and the 3 options that one can now choose from in the next 2 weeks. Gotta say that we are a bit perplexed. About a month ago, I received an email from CEO Tom Fuller addressed to someone named 'Rebecca'. It was obviously sent to me by mistake (his explanation later the next day was convoluted and pointed to a tech error). He had promised this Rebecca a full refund and implied that it wouldn't take long. Naturally, we are wondering why Fuller is not offering everyone a similarly prompt, full refund as well. I am done. The end.​​​

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding while we have been working with Trenitalia to secure the best options we can for your changing travel plans. We apologize that it has taken as long as it has to get back to you on this, unfortunately due to the unprecedented nature of the situation and with Italy being hit first and very hard, it has taken longer than hoped to get the various options resolved. We understand how difficult it is now for everyone everywhere; just a few weeks ago we were all hoping that the situation would be contained to Italy and overcome quickly. Unfortunately that is not what has happened.

We really appreciate beyond words the overwhelming positive feedback and support we have received from our customers and hope that you all will be in a position to travel again sooner rather than later and that Italy will stay at the top of your destination list; to that end, accepting all or part of your order in the form of a credit through ItaliaRail.com would help us tremendously and send a wonderful message of support to the Italian tourism industry. If you are able to accept all or partial travel credit the ItaliaRail team will make sure that you, your friends and family will have the best trip(s) ever - you and your family and friends will be treated like our family!

Please select one of the three options below after carefully considering which option will best suit your needs; the corresponding link will

a) Authorize ItaliaRail to collect your refund from Trenitalia and apply it toward our enhanced credit & refund terms - due by May 31, 2020; OR

b) Provide instructions on how to request a refund directly from Trenitalia and a link to their refund forms - due by June 30, 2020

Option 1
ItaliaRail Credit + 5 years of "Friends & Family" Pricing
ItaliaRail would like to offer you a fully transferable ItaliaRail.com credit for the full value of your original purchase.

This amounts to EUR 89.71.

Your ItaliaRail credit will be valid until December 31, 2022 and is fully transferable to another traveler if you are unable to use it.

In addition to your ItaliaRail credit, we will provide you fully transferable/shareable “Friends & Family” Pricing (5%-25% off) up to a $1,000 USD value. This can be applied through our Custom Vacations Desk (ItaliaVacations) where you will receive insider pricing for savings on hotels, tours and activities, car rentals, restaurants, airport transfers and more. PLUS we will extend you our “Friends & Family” rates until December 31, 2025.

Deadline May 31, 2020
Processed in 2-4 weeks
Click here for Credit Click here for Credit
Option 2
ItaliaRail Refund & Credit + 3 years of "Friends & Family" Pricing
If you have non-refundable tickets, ItaliaRail will refund 50% of the full value of your original purchase back to your credit card, the remaining 50% will be issued as an ItaliaRail.com Credit. Your ItaliaRail credit will be valid until December 31, 2022 and is fully transferable to another traveler if you are unable to use it.

If you have refundable tickets, ItaliaRail will refund 80% of your purchase *Option 3 full refund-must go through TrenItalia forms

United - Booked with miles. Website offered cancellation, miles redeposited , no fee. Taxes refunded to card, about a week. Paid to wait until the flights on partners Austrian and Swiss were cancelled, they still aren't flying.

Various Hotels - Cancelled via email. None were prepaid, credit card guarantee. No problems, no charges. They were probably closed down.

Agriturismo - Didn't prepay for one week stay. Credit card given for guarantee. First they said a cancellation fee of 30% if cancelled four months before June arrival with the credit usable through 2021. Their normal cancellation fee is 50% (with no credit) or more at four weeks. Then at four weeks, they said I could wait until 2 weeks before to decide. Found out they were closed but trying to open to EU guests first of June inline with Italy lock-down. At two weeks ended up telling them since they couldn't take US guests that cancellation was involuntary and with the 14 day quarantine, (and my arrival was before the country would open up even partially) I couldn't travel. They then "suggested" a prepayment for later, which I declined to do.

Great tips for airline refunds at johnnyjet.com

Walk of Italy has been horrible. Our entire family spent over $700 in tours and I've emails them 6 times over 3 months and still no refund. I might recommend removing them from your suggestions.

Has anyone been successful in receiving a refund from Swiss Air for a cancelled flight (mine was late April ORD-ZRH-VCE)?

Norwegian Airlines - Just received a refund for cancelled 4/18 flight from Rome to SFO. Pretty happy to get it.

Air Italy in liquidation sent me this - in relation to your reimbursement practice which is still pending, wishes to inform you that it has authorized its activation at the payment circuit used by you (by your customer).
Some of these circuits have not yet been able to complete the process due to a slowdown due to numerous factors, not least the lockdown taken in several countries as a consequence of the complex and delicate phase that most organizations are going through due to the spread of COVID 19 .
Air Italy therefore confirms the taking charge of your request and the positive outcome of the same, albeit in the timing related to the overcoming of the critical factors mentioned above
This is for cancelled 4/2 flight from SFO to Rome. I bought the tix directly on their website (black friday sale) Not sure which "circuits" they're referring to but I'm hopeful the refund will come thru

Alaska Airlines exceeded all expectations: even though, technically, I canceled our coast to coast airfares, they offered to, and did, give a 100% refund to my credit card.

We've received full cash refunds from Delta and Allianz (trip insurance) for our canceled May trip to Italy. Our Rome hotel graciously canceled the (nonrefundable) credit card charge as it had not been posted yet; Florence was easily canceled as we had not paid anything on the reservation; Venice offered us a credit good through March 2021.

We are, however, still out $2,800 for tours booked with Walks of Italy. We have toured with Walks of Italy several times in the past in Italy and their counterpart in London. We have loved the tours. The guides are knowledgeable and the groups are consistently small. Having said that, this most recent experience with a refund request is really disappointing.

In November 2019 I booked 8 tours for 4 adults in Venice, Florence and Rome, totaling $2,800. I first contacted Walks March 13 and requested a refund for our May 7-19, 2020 tours. I was also asked if I wanted a voucher for 150% of the value and I declined. I was told first the refund would occur 4-6 weeks. It didn't. Then I was told the refunds were being made according to the date of the booking. Still nothing. My last email inquiry of May 28 hasn't been answered.

The company has American based offices in Austin and Boston so I guess I'll have to work through Small Claims Court in either of those cities. I simply don't know what else to do.

Has anybody managed to actually get credit for refunds promised by Luftansa? Our flights to the Adriatic, for now, were canceled over a month ago. Lufthansa told me we'd get a full refund. By DOT regulation we are supposed to get a credit within 7 days but that is apparently being ignored. I've read Luftansa is telling customers they'll get a refund but they aren't processing any of them.

I'm sure this has been discussed in great detail, but I'm just starting the process for a trip scheduled for fall. What have you found to be the best way to contact the hotels and airlines?
We booked directly with Hotel Damaso in Rome using their online website. A non-refundable rate, because this was way before COVID and I assumed I was safe with travel insurance. Should I email the hotel, since I booked with them online? I was thinking of asking nicely if a refund were possible. If not, I would ask if a voucher were available....but I'd ideally want to have a minimum of 2 years in which to use it. I realize neither of these may be possible, but wondered what people have found to have worked? Or any other strategies/suggestions?
Airline tickets (Air Canada out of Toronto but we are US citizens) were also booked on line. Attempt to cancel on line or by phone? Am I correct in understanding that the Canadian government has allowed only vouchers, and no cash refunds at this time?
Thanks for any advice!

No luck with a refund from Walks of Italy. So frustrating.

Igentry, what do you mean no luck with “walks of Italy”? They won’t respond, or they won’t give you a refund? I have several that I have to cancel for September with them. The tours are refundable within a certain amount of time, I believe 48 hours.

Hats off to Condor Airlines for providing a full refund to my CC due to a flight change I did not agree to which put us into Milan at 2230 instead of 1800 on July 3. I called yesterday, 06-09 and my CC had a credit on 06-10, Wow!

For the three weeks of hotels I booked mostly refundable but had four that were non-refundable and I have vouchers for two of them, one to use by mid July 2021 and the other mid July 2022 and are transferable to friends or family which is pretty nice. The other two hotels did not want to play ball whatsoever but lesson learned to book refundable for now on.

Now all ready for an RV trip for July!

Adapt and overcome..

Tyler

Just want to mention I got an email from WestJet saying that if I had an itinerary to the UK between certain dates I can now get a refund if I want it, or keep it in my ‘travel bank’ and it’s good for 24 mos. Most likely will just keep it in the bank since it’s all paid off the credit card, then when we can finally go it’ll be there.

Carol F. We didn’t receive refunds from Lufthansa for 2+ months and a few weeks ago we initiated the charge back process with our credit card. Today the refund appeared on our credit card. We had Business Class tickets that allowed for cancellation with a penalty. We cancelled directly on their website, prepared to pay the fee. But we never heard anything from them. Very disappointed with their limited follow-up.

Here's my summary of refunds received from a trip for UK and France scheduled 4/29 to 5/20:

AA- full refund that took almost 4 weeks to be credited to my card

Easyjet- full refund on 2 separate flights that took almost 2 months to be credited to my account, lost about $9 per ticket from original amount due to exchange rate, not complaining

Great Western Railway- full refund on our train ticket from London to Cotswolds

Airbnb- full refund on 5 separate stays, we had to play the waiting game for Airbnb to extend the refund dates but we got it!

Shakespeare's Globe- full refund that took about 2 weeks to receive

Secret Cottage Cotswolds Tour-full refund but we had to wait till the actual day of the tour for it, no problem. Lost about $10 ticket due to exchange rate, oh well..

Highclere Castle- no refund, just a voucher for a visit scheduled for May of next year, fingers crossed we can visit UK then. If not, will find a way to give away these tickets to any locals interested in going.

All in all, I'm so relieved to get most of our money back. One note, the CC I use to book all my travel plans was hacked and I was still expecting a few refunds at that point but Visa assured me the refunds would go through and they did. Whew!

Walks of Italy aka Walks LLC *- They do not honor their cancellation policy.*

I made $440 worth of reservations February 11, 2020, for a tour in Rome scheduled for Sept 11, 2020, for a group of eight friends traveling together. I cancelled the tour on March 7, 2020. June 14 they finally responded and offered a choice between a tour credit for double the amount of the original amount or the refund. I choose the refund. Their final response on June 18 was that the tour credit was their final offer so apparently I did not have a choice as their previous email had indicated. It is interesting that this all took long enough to get me past the 90 day period associated with my credit card. This is very disappointing. They have numerous complaints on their Facebook page, and on Trip Advisor. A lot of folks are being stiffed when their cancellation policy states: "Walks LLC offers a full refund on cancellations made more than 72 hours prior to tour commencement." Walks LLC should not be spending the funds received prior to the commencement of a tour and provide refunds as their policy states instead of offering credit or vouchers that may, or may not, ever be used.

I had other reservations through Trip Advisor/Viator and Hotels.com. These were all refunded immediately, or within a short period of time. Hooray for them!

TAP - Air Portugal: This one is still pending, and based on other comments, I don't expect I'll get much more than a credit/voucher for future travel. At least that one was only for my wife and I and not eight travelers.

Delta - Holding out closer to the time that the trip was supposed to take place as I know that they are only offering e-credits.

An update: Wrote off TAP-Air Portugal. They're not refunding and this was reserved through a third party. So much for that.

Delta gave us e-credit.

Walks Update: After posting a bad review on Trip Advisor, they came back and looked at my complaint. They said they would refund my tour with them on August 3. August 6, no refund, and I wrote them back. They then stated that they would not refund my tour costs even though they had promised that they would. I've since reported them to BBB and the Texas State Attorney General's Office.

Finally received refund for deposit for Cunard cruise that we canceled before non refundable date -took 60 days. Since the Cunard suspended all cruises, including ours through Nov 1.

We received cancellation notice from Direct Ferries for ferry between Italy and Croatia. Gave us voucher to use through next May 2021, but we won’t use. We contested charge with Capital One and see it it sticks.

Still waiting on 4 Trenitalia refunds totaling $225.00 (over 60 days). We will give to July 1 before contesting.

Ferry to Amsterdam to Newcastle has not cancelled yet- July 18. But service is already suspended through July 7th. They are issuing vouchers regardless of who cancels, but if DFDS cancels, then we will contest.

American Airlines - one call, miles refunded, fee refunded for mileage use (one to two days)
VRBO - full refund by owner, associated fees by VRBO (took 2 months - several emails but we were holding out hope to travel.)
Barcelona Hotel full refund, one email (2 days)
Catalonian Music Hall concert - one email, full refund (2 days)
Vueling - one email, no refund $, credit for one year

Stopped buying trip elements in early March which helped but overall very pleased. VRBO host, Barca hotel (Jazz), music hall were all great. I thought American would be the hardest but it was low stress.

SAS Airlines: San Francisco to Poland, September, 2020

As a result of a date change to my flight itinerary, my fall trip is now officially cancelled and refund eligible. My May flight on SAS took less than 2 weeks (in April) for a full refund; This refund is expected to take up to 3 months. Of course, the scope of the airline calamity was not so drastic in April.

For those who may still be waiting for fall flights on SAS to be cancelled, my flight became eligible for a voucher about 4 weeks prior to departure - which signified to me that it was likely to be cancelled or "significantly changed." I received notice of the new flight date 3 weeks prior to departure.

Cancelled our trip to France and Italy April 28th. All things were refunded within a day or two EXCEPT Delta of course. Waited for them to cancel our flights (which they did April 27th) so I could get my money back not a e-cert. STILL waiting. Finally called last week just to check and was told it would be any day now. I'm not holding my breathe.

It is a time like this, when you truly know the character of a company.
It looks like I'll never book any tour with "walks of italy" - they seem the most glaring.. I'll be surprised if they are still operational by next year.
For people who booked directly w/airline seem to have the best outcome... it's a warning for the rest of us... DO NOT BOOK AIRLINE WITH THIRD PARTY!!!!
I think same can be said about booking trains.. although trenitalia is not stepping up to the plate on customer service.
Booking.com seem to have come out of this ok (which surprised me).
Southwest and Alaska air seem to have the best customer service.. which doesn't surprise me...

Booked with Air Canada last January for a June 8th departure. I cancelled, out of a sense of caution, as soon as the virus numbers began to increase. That was by the end of February or early March. Last week Air Canada finally sent me an email statement that said I wasn't entitled to a refund (yes, non-refundable ticket) even though they admitted that all my flights were changed and eventually cancelled by them. 5 months to wait for that response?

I am certainly glad that I took out trip insurance! Oh wait, I filed with the insurance company the same week as I cancelled my Air Canada flight. They just acknowledged last week that they have received my claim! You know, there are people who want a job and could do the job - maybe these companies need to hire them!?!

I’m very pleased with my status for a September trip to Italy, considering the situation:

Delta flights - refunded cc. They automatically gave me an eCredit, but I wrote and also called - very pleasant interaction and refund showed on cc within a week.

3 Refundable hotels - no issues after cancelling through Booking.com

5 nonrefundable small hotels/apartments/B&B’s - 3 vouchers, 1 refund on cc, 1 holding out to see if Americans are allowed to travel in September.

I’m planning to go in 2021, if possible, and I will definitely give these same places my business. Some of them are lodging where I stayed previously.

Two Iceland Air reservations fully refunded for a canceled trip to Iceland and Norway. It took awhile, since late May, but they gave us claim numbers and apologized for the delays frequently. So,I have a favorable impression of this airline.

September trip to Ireland cancelled a few months ago. Delta cancelled my out going flight. Got thru to them on Facebook instant message. Took a few days for them to respond to my message, but when they did, 48 hours later full credit card refund. We booked our trip with an agency in Ireland.. Received a refund of all but $300 on our credit card. The $300 not refunded was an administration fee. This past weekend I spoke to Alianze travel insurance about my insurance policy. I emailed them my credit card statement showing the refunds and yesterday i had a full refund on my credit card from them. I was very lucky

WALKS OF ITALY aka WALKS LLC
I posted earlier on 6/22 and updated my post but wanted to pass along a recommendation received through my Facebook:
If you can't get your refund with Walks LLC, go the the website for the State of Texas Attorney General and their consumer fraud section and make a complaint with them. Maybe enough complaints will shake them up.
They even lied in a later email stating that they were going to refund my costs on August 3 and later came back and said they would not refund the tour.

Rick Steves Tour: Deposit refunded for September tour

Delta Airlines: Flight on September 4. I spent 10 minutes on hold, 4 minute conversation, refund on my CC within 2 weeks.

Paris Hotel: Non-refundable 6 day stay. I am happy to accept a voucher. They sent me a very nice email regarding the voucher. I sent them a nice email expressing my good wishes for their personal health and the health of the business. I think it shocked them because I am sure they are receiving a lot of angry emails that they are not refunding stays. I have saved enough on non-refundable rates to lose this money if I never see it.

Eating Europe: I am waiting on a response from them. I told them I would be happy with a voucher if it never expired. We'll see what they do.

Finally. It took 6 months. I consider myself extremely lucky. It is a mark of character in a company how they comport themselves when things go awry. Fortunately for me, I worked with many companies that did the right thing and refunded or gave me equal value credit for future travel. And the one company that defaulted, I was able to get 100% back through TRAVELEX, our trip insurance. Our trip was planned for 4/30/2020 - 5/28/2020. Cancellation on our part was not an option under our Trip Insurance policy, as "fear of going on a trip" is not a type of cancelling they would honor. So for the big ticket items we played "chicken" with the airline industry, cruise industry, and land tour industry. Cancelled round trip from HI to LAX on United by United in March. Almost 100%, (less the upgrades we purchased separately to have economy +), was returned as a trip voucher for future travel. I went to our Chase Visa CC for the upgrade refund, and got the upgrade amounts refunded to our ViSA CC. When the round trip was cancelled, we cancelled Choice Hotel overnight in LA before flight to Italy as part of a cruise. We booked with points, and the points were immediately returned to us. Cancelled Land Tour by not named company, on 3/17/2020 for land tour that was suppose to happen 5/2 - 5/21. They offered us 10% back, or 33% back as a credit if we moved our trip to one of their itineraries that was completed by 12/31/2020. Needless to say I will not be going through this company for any of our future travels. Cancelled cruise by Regent Cruise Line by Regent on 4/30/2020. They provided us 100% back on our Visa, but it took 3 months. We cancelled our AirBnb 2 nights in LAX that we were going to stay at before flying home on 5/30 when the cruise was cancelled. 100% returned to our VISA cc. My claim with TRAVELEX originally was sent w claim amount loss including Regent Cruise, and land tour company when the land tour company part of trip was cancelled, and Regent changed our itinerary from original embarkment of Rome to Athens, (which contractually they can do), and said that if we were in Italy for up to 15 days prior, their new policy due to COVID-19 was we wouldn't be able to board. Subsequent to me filing my claim, Regent cancelled our cruise. I notified TRAVELEX. They told me when I received reimbursement from Regent, to notify them with proof, and to reduce my claim accordingly. This i did in the middle of August after the refund appeared on my VISA cc statement. I also reduced my claim amount to be only the amount I lost to be only land tour portion not reimbursed. TRAVELEX provided full payment for losses incurred, after a small glitch that I was able to provide proof of! I will definitely use them again for future travels. The monies returned to me is awaiting our next trip! After all I've read about how Rick Steve's worked during this crisis, guess who will be looking at what they have to offer, when it is safe for all of us to travel again!

Our NY-based friends finally got their full refund from Lufthansa, part of their cancelled annual trip to Poland.
I am done. The end.

Walks of Italy /Rome
Requested refunds back in April 2020 for trip scheduled in early July and received refunds for tours in Venice and Florence. However, two tours in Rome have not been refunded. I've contacted them several times and no response. Finally, today I contacted Chase (Sapphire Credit Card) and they will refund us and go after them for refunds. I don't know if Rome operates separate from other cities. Very disappointed them, since they are not responding to my e-mails. Everything else, hotels, flights with Delta have reimbursed!!

I booked a night tour at the Colosseum with Walks for 6 people last November. The tour was scheduled for September 7th. I called Walks last May to cancel the tour and followed up on their website with the cancellation form. I waited several months then called my credit card company to file a complaint, forwarding them my original email with their cancellation policy. I followed up with Walks and told them that I had rebooked for Italy next year for 3 of us. So I told them I would rebook the tour for 3 and wanted my refund for the others who could no longer travel. I received an email this week that they were refunding the fee for the 3 to my credit card and crediting 3 tours at 125 percent.

Has anybody gone through an Alitalia refund lately? Editing to add: surprisingly, within 24 hours of requesting a refund, I received emails with electronic receipts for our ticket refunds. Now we'll see how long it takes for the credit to actually post in the credit card account.

Finally got my KLM refund today after over 100 days of waiting and several calls, texts, DMs, and emails.

We finally received our refund from Lufthansa for our seat assignments for our canceled May trip to Italy.

Just today outa the blue, we suddenly got a full refund (about an entire paycheque) from our Amalfi landlady. I swore that she'd already reimbursed us waaaay back. Guess that maybe back then I'd misread that she intended to reimburse us and somehow, my angst/magical-thinking perceived that promise as a statement about an act that'd already happened.

No complaints of course, but those of us who gambled last year by pre-arranging extensive itineraries (A to B to C to D to E to F) have now been dealing with extra chasing for refunds than those whose trips were monotone, i.e.  in one place.
Best of Luck to others still in the chase.

I am done. The rental.

Yes!!!
We just got a response from the Italian company, Amalfivacation that had our deposit for their splurge Ravello villa rental. We had been keeping that substantial deposit in place for future use, in hopes that covid would soon finish. I'd finally given up waiting for covid to end any time soon and had just asked that outfit for a refund a couple of days ago. They agreed to refund us the full amount, which was over $4,000. Amalfivacation have been real pros, and excellent throughout the whole process from day one a year ago, when I first plopped down that deposit far in advance of the actual rental dates.

I had just stressed with the company that Mrs Z and I are not rich people and that the rental was to have been (and may yet be again some day) an all-time splurge for us.

Wishing everyone similar satisfaction.
I am done. Damme un bacio, Elena!

Hi
So sad but it looks like the spring is looking less and less likely a time for Italy. I was holding onto 2 vouchers issued by Air France after cancelled flights in May - these were to be used within a year. This week after the latest shut downs and travel restrictions I called them and requested a full refund. The agent said he would pass along the request to the "refund guys" and that I would hear from them in 21 to 40 days. The next day I received an email saying that the refund would be issued - it could take up to 14 days. I got the refund yesterday! Now I can just dream about travel!